


Belated route B

by MilayaMilenZeal



Series: MIA Brother [4]
Category: Spectrobes
Genre: F/M, Family, Post-Game(s), Two-way junction, minimal spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-14
Updated: 2017-01-14
Packaged: 2018-09-17 10:27:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 20,034
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9319577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MilayaMilenZeal/pseuds/MilayaMilenZeal
Summary: Upon receiving a message from his brother, who'd been MIA for 12 years, Rallen is more than excited to travel to Ziba and pick him up. But when he and Jeena arrive, things don't go as they should...





	1. Making the errand

**Author's Note:**

> Before reading this, be sure to go read the prologue to get a better understanding of where this is going.

“LIZ!! LIZ WAKE UP!!” Rallen cried out as he pounded on the door to Liz’s dorm room. He couldn’t care if he woke up anyone else; it was more important to him to get the news about Rex to Liz. Who cared if everyone else heard him?

Rallen was about to shout and pound again, when the door disappeared from beneath his fist an inch before it could connect with the solid material. And in the opened doorway stood a very sleepy, and rather annoyed, Liz Marks. Her white-blonde hair looked a little messy, though not all that much, even if the longer locks hanging past her face were slightly sticking to the corner of her mouth. She had her traditional eye patch covering her eye, but it looked a little crooked, possibly because of her trying to fix it while she was half asleep, and her only usable eye was watching him from behind a half-shut eyelid as she straightened her robe briefly.

“…Rallen, it’s 3:30 in the morning… can’t it wait just a few hours?” Liz mumbled as she reached up to rub the dust from her eye.

“Sorry Liz but no it can’t!” Rallen said in one breath, letting himself into the room before she could say no.

Liz only sighed at Rallen’s usual impulsive behavior and shut the door behind him, walking after Rallen further into the room. “Alright… I’ll bite… what’s got you so excited?”

Rallen couldn’t keep the grin off his face as he held out his portable messenger to her, having already selected the last message he received that day. “Read this!”

“…Rallen, you woke me up just to proofread a message to Rex?”

“Just read it, Liz! Please!”

Liz gave Rallen a dry look, which was rather impressive with only one eye, before she sighed and rubbed her temple. “Fine, fine… I’ll read it… but I swear if it’s not important…”

“It is, I swear!”

The Commander didn’t seem to be the least bit convinced by his claim, however, even as she took over the handheld and started reading silently.

Rallen watched as her annoyed expression turned into one of confusion, then to surprise, then to shock, before finally becoming an expression that was oddly blank. He watched the motion of her eye carefully and realized that she was rereading the message, again and again, as though she were afraid that what she read was, somehow, a dream. Not that he blamed her; he’d had the same kind of reaction when he first read it, after all.

“…Rallen.”

“Yeah…?”

“Could you get me a chair, please?”

Rallen didn’t question it, having a feeling what she wanted it for, and ran to collect a chair from the lounge, then ran back and set it down behind Liz just in time before her legs could no longer support her body’s weight. She let herself drop down onto the chair, one of her hands holding her head, fingers placed upon her temple. He wanted to say something, but he wasn’t too sure what to say at this point. With Liz’s expression still being relatively blank, it was difficult to say what she was thinking. That was probably something she had learned when becoming a Commander; don’t let your emotions show too much. Show enough, just not too much.

“…Rallen.”

“Yeah?”

“…this isn’t your idea of a joke… is it?”

“…would this be something I’d joke about?”

“…I guess not…”

For several long moments, the dorm room was silent, and neither of the two dared to move, nor to break the silence, as though that would make the entire thing disappear like a midnight dream. Rallen remained standing behind Liz, and because of this, it was a little hard to gauge her exact thoughts, but even if he was looking at her face, he probably wouldn’t be able to tell much. Despite that Liz had become almost like an older sister to Rallen (and maybe a little bit of a mother after his mom died) over the years, he still had difficulty with figuring out what the woman was thinking of.

“…he’s… alive…”

When he heard those words being spoken, Rallen felt his mouth quirk up in a smile, and when he leaned over, he could see that Liz was trying (and failing) to keep her own smile (and tears) in check.

“Yeah… and the best news about that is…” Rallen started, which caused Liz to stop fighting against the smile that sought to play along her face. “He’s coming home.”

Liz was silent for a long moment, her smile seeming almost as relieved as his own had been only a few minutes ago. However, just then, she slowly closed the portable messenger, and held it up to Rallen without a word said. The orange-haired NPP officer blinked, but he took it anyway – and the second he took it back from her, Liz’s hand clenched into a fist and her face twisted into a furious snarl.

“He better be!!” she let out, immediately leaping to her feet and almost knocking the chair over and startling Rallen into backing away. “After all he’s put us through, he _better_ be coming straight home or he’s going to have more than my fist to his jaw to look forward to when I see him again!! If he thinks he’s gonna get off easy just by saying ‘sorry’ he’s got another think coming!! Just saying ‘sorry’ isn’t enough in this situation!! When I see him again he is SO going to pay for making us worry about his sorry hide and THEN he’ll have something to be ‘sorry’ about!!”

If Rallen hadn’t noticed how, during her rant, Liz’s tears had begun rolling down her cheek freely from her only visible eye, he might’ve actually flinched back. Having lived with Liz for almost 9 years already, Rallen was used to Liz’s ‘tantrums’ every so often, but he knew right away that this tantrum was different from her usual furious fits; it was a façade to hide what she was really feeling at that specific time. An act to appear strong and to not let him down.

Quietly, Rallen set aside the portable on the table and walked over. Before she could start her rant anew, Rallen reached out and pulled the slightly taller woman into a hug, feeling her tense up in surprise. However, he didn’t even seem to care about that as he rested his forehead on her shoulder and shut his eyes. Like that, they stayed for a while, before Liz seemed to slump in his grasp, but he could feel her body start to shake subtly.

“That… idiot… that good for nothing… stupid… _idiot_ …” Liz hissed out, before her legs gave out and she dropped to the ground, Rallen dropping down with her immediately, still holding her in a hug from behind. “Damn him… stupid… idiot…”

Rallen didn’t say anything for a while, but he did smile quietly, knowing exactly what she meant to say with those words. After a moment of waiting, he murmured: “But… you missed him… right?”

“…you kidding me? Of course I… I…” Liz choked out through her barely concealed sobs as she held onto his arm with one hand.

“It’s… okay…” Rallen managed to get out, feeling his own tears forming in his own eyes again as the whole situation dawned on him fully. “I… I missed him, too…”

“I didn’t… dammit…” Liz grumbled out, wriggling a bit in Rallen’s hold to turn around and pull the young man into a hug, keeping her eye shut tight, as though it would prevent her tears from falling.

It didn’t, of course, but neither said anything about the tears they were both shedding, not ready to admit just how much they had truly missed Rex. They merely sat there upon the ground, clinging to each other like lifelines, tears of relief escaping their tightly shut eyes and small, equally relieved and contented smiles on their faces.

“Tell your brother… if he pulls that again… I’m going to skin him alive…”

“Hahah… I’ll tell him.”

“You better… ‘coz I’m not going to be held responsible if it happens.”

“Heheh…”

 

Jeena had no idea what to expect when Commander Marks sent her a message at 6 in the morning to come by her office, when she and Rallen were supposed to be officially on leave, but she figured that something very urgent must’ve come up. After all, Commander  So, despite that she was still dead tired, she walked down the halls, Komainu hurrying after her as she went, heading toward Liz’s office.

After Rallen had told her about Rex two years ago, he had also ‘properly’ introduced her to Liz, and the Commander had actually given Jeena permission to use the woman’s first name when they were in private. And while Liz was known to be a little stern at times, she had always been a kind person to the rookies. In fact, she was also the person who had partnered up her and Rallen.

Let alone, she seemed, to Jeena, like the kind of person who would be able to keep Rallen in line with little to no trouble. Which was probably why she had been partnered up with his brother, if he had been anything like Rallen during his career.

Upon arriving at the room, Jeena paused for a moment to take a deep breath, before she knocked politely. “Commander Marks, you wished to speak to me?”

“Door’s open, Jeena. Come on in,” Liz called out calmly.

As she stepped into the room, Jeena was a bit surprised – just a little, though – when she spotted Rallen already sitting in one of the chairs facing Liz’s desk… and he seemed strangely happy about something. He was sitting with his hands behind his head, one leg slung over the other, already in full uniform. When Jeena walked in, he looked up and grinned at her, giving her a small wave as she walked over to sit in the other seat.

“So… what’s the problem, Commander?” Jeena asked as Komainu jumped up into Rallen’s lap, barking up to the other officer for attention, which was gladly provided.

“Jeen, I thought I said you could call me Liz quite a few times already,” Liz chuckled out, a small smirk playing on her face. Now that she actually had a good look at Liz, though, she realized that she, too, seemed almost… well, not exactly happy, but she was definitely in a better than normal mood.

“Oh, I’m sorry… but I thought… I thought something urgent came up and…”

“Hey, chill out, Jeen,” Rallen laughed out, scratching Komainu under his chin. “We just need to do a quick errand for Liz, that’s all. Nothing really serious.”

“An errand? What kind of errand, if I may ask?” Jeena asked wearily, unsure if she liked where this was going.

“No need to be so formal, Jeena.” Liz allowed a chuckle. “I just need you two to pick someone up from Ziba. And in the event that he hasn’t made it there, to fetch him on Himuro.”

“If I may, why Himuro? What would he have to do there?” Jeena asked, now thoroughly confused.

However, Liz merely smirked. “Rallen, why don’t you tell her who you’re picking up?”

Jeena quirked an eyebrow ad looked over to her partner strangely. Said partner, however, turned to her with a big grin.

“We’re gonna pick up Rex!”

At that name, Jeena’s eyes widened in surprise and her jaw dropped slightly. However, she quickly shook off her surprise and felt a smile pulling on her lips that was trying to turn into a grin of its own as she realized just _why_ the two of them had seemed so… happy. They had every reason to be, after all, if what Rallen said was true.

“Your brother…? You… figured out where he went?” she asked finally, still unable to keep her smile off her face.

“Apparently, he’s been out of the Nanairo system all this time with no way back. He only recently managed to return, possibly through one of the Portal Points, and this put him on the edge of Nanairo,” Liz explained. “He’ll be trying to reach Ziba with his ship, but he might end up on Himuro instead. And if he does…”

“He’ll need a ride. I get it.”

Liz nodded. “This is technically not an official mission. It’s more of a personal request. Plus, Rallen would end up going there anyway even if I didn’t say so,” she added with a smirk, causing Rallen to cry out “Hey!!” and earning a few giggles from Jeena. “I’ll let Grant know you’re off the planet for a while, just in case. Now, do you two have any questions?”

“Nope!” Rallen quipped with a grin.

“None at all,” Jeena confirmed with a nod.

“Alright. Then I’ll see you when you get back. You’re dismissed.”

Both Officers nodded, looking at each other with similar smiles before getting up and heading out of the Commander’s office. As they headed out, Liz finally allowed herself to smile brightly in relief, not really caring if the action pulled at the skin around her left eye, which was rather painful because of the burnt flesh she hid under her eye patch.

“Hahaha… it’s about time, you _dolt!_ You better not disappear on us before we see you again, or else I’m going to make you live to regret it!”

Spinning her chair around, she stood up and walked over to her window and looked outside, her arms loosely crossed over her chest.

“You better have a good excuse for  being late, too… or you’re _really_ going to get hurt.”


	2. Waiting for You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rallen and Jeena travel to Ziba, and there... they wait.

By 6:30, Rallen peeled their cruiser out of the hangar and they were en route to Ziba. With their cruiser’s new engine, they weren’t expecting the trip to last very long, but it was long enough for them to have a little time to themselves to think.

Rallen appeared a little lost in thought, though he kept them on course just fine, and Jeena was equally focused on her own thoughts. Hers mostly revolved around what they were going to do once they met up with Rex. She also wondered what Rallen would do when it came to that, though she could hazard a guess, of course.

“…Hey, Rallen?”

“Hm?”

“When you see your brother again, what are you going to say to him?”

At the question, Rallen actually blinked in slight surprise, and it took him a few moments before he actually responded.

“Well… I guess I’d probably give ‘im a ‘welcome home’ hug… and then I’d probably hit him for being away so long.”

Jeena smiled a bit at Rallen’s comment. “Really? You’d do that just like that?”

“Well… no. No, Liz probably wants dibs on the first punch,” Rallen joked, making Jeena burst out in a fit of giggles.

“Haha… why doesn’t that surprise me? Was she always so violent around your brother?”

“Only when he called her ‘Lizzy’. Man, she _really_ hated that nickname back in the day… still does, actually,” Rallen chuckled out.

Jeena allowed a small smile at those words, before she got to thinking. “Hey, Rallen. Her name is ‘Liz Marks’, right? Is Liz short for Elizabeth or something similar?”

“Huh? Um… nnnnooo, I don’t think so. Her name’s just ‘Liz’ as far as I know…” After a few moments, though, he frowned. “Then again, she never really told me outright if that was her full name… she tends to avoid the subject whenever I ask her about it.”

“Hmm… might be a sensitive subject for her, then…” Jeena mused. “…Though, I have to ask… if Liz hated to be called ‘Lizzy’, why did your brother call her that?”

“Well, he said it was to get any kind of response out of her,” her partner explained as he steered around a stray piece of space debris. “Back then, it was very rare for Liz to show any kind of emotion at all. Though… Rex did mention that she seemed to loosen up considerably whenever he brought her home to see Mom and me.”

“He actually took her to your house like that?” Jeena asked curiously, though she almost smacked herself for asking. She made it sound as though those two had actually been going out, which, according to what she had found, wasn’t the case.

“Yeah. …heheh.”

“What? What’s so funny?” Jeena asked in surprise.

“I just remember… the first time Rex brought her home… I actually asked her ‘Are you brother’s girlfriend?’”

Jeena gawked for a few moments, before she burst out laughing along with Rallen. “You _really_ asked that?”

“Yep. Well… I think I was about 6 at the time… maybe 7… but yeah. That’s the first thing I asked her.”

“And what did she say?”

“She said she was ‘just his partner’,” Rallen said with a small shrug. “If you ask me… there was something more going on between those two, though…”

At that, Jeena quirked a curious eyebrow, but she also smirked a bit cheekily. “What makes you say that?”

“Ah, just a hunch, really,” the orange-haired Officer said casually, but the grin on his face said he knew more than he was letting on. However, Jeena only rolled her eyes and went back to her own console, figuring he’d tell her later.

Rallen, however, turned to thinking about what gave him the idea about Rex and Liz’s possible ‘relationship’; a conversation between him and Rex a few weeks before he disappeared…

_“Hey, Rallen, come here for a sec.”_

_“Huh? What’s wrong?”_

_“Oh, nothing. You know that it’s Lizzy’s b-day in a few weeks?”_

_“Eh?! It is?! Why didn’t she say so?! I still gotta get her a present!”_

_“Whoa, easy, kiddo, hahah. Look, I’ll help you with finding Lizzy a present, but first I need to ask you something else.”_

_“…? Like what??”_

_“Well… say, if Lizzy came to live with us and she became your big sister, what would you say to that?”_

_“…Rex?”_

_“Hm?”_

_“Are you gonna ask Lizzy to marry you?”_

_“GAH!! Don’t make it sound like that’s the only option!!”_

_“But you are, right?!”_

_“Rallen!!”_

_“Brother, your face is all red!”_

_“Nrgh! You little!! Get over here!!”_

_“Wah!! Rex that’s not faaaaaii-AAAHAHAHAH! REX! STOOOHAHAHAP IT!!”_

Rex had never brought the subject up again, and he threatened Rallen with more tickle torture whenever he asked, so he had never asked again. But Rallen was _sure_ that Rex had been planning to ask Liz, eventually. But… he had never managed to, because that was when he had disappeared, only a few days before Liz’s birthday.

‘Well… guess you got some making up to do, Rex… unless you want her to be _super_ pissed off at you.’

 

Before long, they made it to Ziba, but when the did, they remembered something that they should have remembered from the start; Ziba was split into two, meaning that there were two ports from where shuttles left for Kollin. Which also meant they would have to either split up their search, or have one of the ports contact the other and request for any shuttles for Kollin to hold off their launch until they could find Rex.

“So he doesn’t know we’re coming to pick him up?” Jeena asked as they circled the planet.

“No… I actually wanted to surprise him, and Liz thought it was a good idea, so…” Rallen offered lamely, rubbing the back of his neck.

Jeena sighed softly, rolling her eyes. Before they could decide on their course of action, though, they received a call feom HQ. The pair of Officers exchanged a glance before putting the connection through, realizing that it was either Grant, or Liz.

And as it turned out, it was the latter.

“Hey, Liz. ‘Sup?” Rallen asked casually.

“ _Nothing much, Rallen. Are you two near Ziba, yet?_ ”

“We just came in range, actually,” Jeena said with a nod. “We’re just debating on where to land, considering…”

“ _I thought as much. I managed to convince the officials at the spaceports to hold off the ships to Kollin for a while, and they’ll let me know if someone matching your brother’s description shows up at the register._ ”

“Cool! That’ll save us some work! Thanks, Liz!” said the orange-haired man with a smile.

“ _You just get down there and pick up that dolt, Rallen. Ja ne._ ”

And then the connection was cut off and Rallen chuckled. “Heh. Well, looks like we won’t have to worry so much about where to go, eh?”

Jeena merely nodded with a smile. “Right. Let’s go then.”

“You got it!”

 

When they landed on Ziba, the place was as busy as ever, and their first step after docking their cruiser was to visit the spaceport’s CEO to ask aout anyone matching Rex’s description had recently come in. Unfortunately, that turned out to be a dead end, at least for the moment, so the pair of NPP Officers opted to wait outside for Rex.

After almost an hour of waiting, Jeena finally broke the silence.

“Hey, Rallen, what has your brother been up to, anyway? I know you and Liz said he was out of Nanairo, but…”

At those words, Rallen blinked in surprise and looked to Jeena from where he was leaning back on his arms. He waited a few more moments, blinking a couple more times, before he quipped: “You know what… I totally forgot that.”

Sitting up, Rallen pulled out his portable from where he kept it under his gauntlet. “…Hey, get a little closer will you?” he said, gesturing for her to come closer.

Jeena blinked, but did just that as Rallen flicked the small portable messenger open and pulled its stylus out, tapping on the first message that hadn’t been read yet. As it opened, Rallen set it down on his knee and pressed one more button, bringing up a holographic screen for them to properly read the entire message.

 

**_Subject: <None>_ **

_Hey Rallen…_

_Tell me something; what exactly happened? Last thing I remember is the cruiser blowing up on me and Lizzy, and the next thing I know, I’m on some kind of planet I’ve never been to before._

_Either I’ve been asleep for forever in the damn pod, or I’m not in Nanairo anymore…_

_How I’m even able to survive here, I’m not fully sure. This entire planet appears to be surrounded by a thick blanket of what I think is gas, and while the people here are kind enough to me, they treat me as though as though I’m some kind of holy being that ‘fell from the sky’. I have a feeling they’ve never even heard of ‘long distance space travel’ before, so I don’t think I’d be able to get anything for that out of them. In fact, they’ve never even heard of ‘Nanairo’ here…_

_Really, just where did I wind up already?_

_Anyway, I’m gonna see if I can somehow get my escape pod to serve me as a shuttle back home, somehow, and I’ll do my best to be back home ASAP. Tell Lizzy, too, okay? I’ll try to be back in time for her big day, and I’m not planning to miss it._

_Ja ne._

_-Rex_

 

“…Huh, doesn’t sound like any place in Nanairo, that’s for sure…” Rallen murmured, and Jeena nodded.

“You’re right… There’s no planets in Nanairo that are surrounded by a blanket of gas… except for Meido, but I think that’s a little different than what Rex is referring to.”

“Plus, Meido doesn’t have anyone living on it…” Rallen pointed out.

“That too…”

It wasn’t until Rallen moved over to select the next message that Jeena realized just how _close_ they actually were, and while Rallen didn’t seem the least bit affected, Jeena actually felt her face flush slightly. As Rallen was about to select the next message, however…

**_BEEP_ **

Rallen and Jeena yowled in surprise when the handheld beeped, almost causing Rallen to drop it, though Jeena managed to grab it before it could fall. After taking a deep breath, she handed it back to Rallen.

“Whew… thanks, Jeen. That was sudden…” Rallen mumbled, taking the handheld, which was now glowing a deep blue. Scrolling all the way up, he noticed there was a new message (obviously). “Looks like Rex has something to say…” he murmured, tapping the message.

 

**_Subject: May I say I hate this ship now?_ **

_Can I say something real quick? I hate this damn ship. Not only does it not last as long as it should, but it also refuses to land properly…_

_Okay, might be my own fault since I’m not a full-fledged technician when it comes to fixing shuttles._

_Ugh, anyway, back on track; my ship crashed, to put it bluntly. And that’s not the worst part of the news, I’m afraid… from what I can tell… I’m on Meido. Now last time I was in Nanairo, there wasn’t any ship fast enough to make it there, so, I won’t lie and say I’m expecting you to show up to get me outta this hellhole… Would be nice, plus appreciated, but, well…_

_I’m gonna try and fix this damn thing back up and see if I can get outta here myself, but I don’t like how my chances are looking._

_Better get to work, then._

_Ja ne._

_-Rex_

 

“He’s on Meido?!” Rallen and Jeena exclaimed at the same time, exchanging a quick glance, before they leaped up and dashed back to the hangar.

‘Shit shit shit! Rex, just hold on! We’re coming for you!!’


	3. Upon the Darkened Planet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rallen and Jeena rush to Meido to find Rex... and the reunion is a barrel of laughs.

The first time they had traveled to Meido had been, needless to say, nerve wrecking on both their accounts. Neither of the two had been that willing to return there again, though they were well aware they had no real choice in the matter. It was dark, cold, and foreboding, as the sun’s rays were unable to reach it properly, turning the place into a barren wasteland where no being had a chance of survival. How the place had oxygen at all, no one was certain, but in a way, it was good it did. But that still didn’t make the place any more attractive to visit.

At this point in time, however, Rallen and Jeena barely thought twice about heading there. They had an actual reason to go there now, after all;

To pick Rex up and get him home.

 

Rallen was practically already out of the cruiser before it had even properly touched down, but Jeena didn’t even mention this to him as she finished what she was doing, and then hurried out after her partner. Though truthfully, she was still trying to get her bearings from how fast they had just flown over from Ziba to Meido. She was used to high speed flying when it came to Rallen, but the speed from only a few moments ago was damn fast, even for a speed devil like Rallen.

She was about to step out of the cruiser, but backpedaled at the last second and went to the incubator and retrieve Komainu. It would be a good idea to get someone out who was equipped for searches in this situation.

When she stepped outside, she saw Rallen standing a few feet ahead of her, scanning the area over before he brought up his hands in a makeshift megaphone.

“REX!! IF YOU’RE OKAY, SAY SOMETHING!!” he shouted out.

All they got back, however, was Rallen’s own echo. The orange-haired NPP sighed and put his hands on his hips. He appeared to be both annoyed and worried, though he appeared to be trying to suppress the latter emotion.

“Damn… this is so like him… he’s gonna me us worry for nothing again…”

“Well, let’s start looking around the area, then. Scans indicate his ship must’ve crashed around here, somewhere.”

“Yeah… let’s go,” Rallen agreed with a nod, even as they began to walk off slowly.

 

It wasn’t long before they discovered a long, deep trench across the ground, leading to a massive pit that Rallen only vaguely remembered from two years ago. It was a place he had avoided during his first trip there in favor of actually finding the leader of the Krawl. As he walked over slowly and looked down, he had to squint in order to see anything down below them, and even then, what he saw was limited; it was just that dark.

“This can’t be good…” Rallen murmured.

“This looks like it could belong to Rex’s ship…” Jeena murmured, studying the trench a little closer. “It must’ve tipped over the edge of the pit at some point.”

“Yeah… I hope Rex wasn’t actually _on_ it when it did… I can’t see the bottom of this thing…” Rallen grumbled softly.

“Hopefully not… It’s possible he might’ve jumped out before it did… in which case he’d be somewhere around here.”

“Nnnnooo… Don’t you remember? He said he was going to try and fix it himself so he’d probably have searched around for a way down,” Rallen pointed out. “We just have to figure out how he did get down there.”

As Rallen and Jeena looked around for a safe way down the pit, though, Komainu turned to the side with a curious sound, before he barked and bounded off.

“Komainu!!” Jeena cried out when she realized that the child Spectrobe had run off – again – making Rallen look up.

“Oh not again! Komainu! Get back here!!” Rallen cried out as the pair hurried after the tiny Spectrobe.

Komainu, however, didn’t listen, and instead ran on ahead of them, before he hopped over a rock and into a cave that had been hidden partially in shadows.

“Huh? Is that a…?” Rallen queried, moving over and peeking into the cave.

“Looks like some sort of cave… do you think?”

“One way to find out, right?”

After exchanging a nod with each other, the pair climbed over the rock Komainu had cleared earlier, stepping into the cave slowly, though they were forced to walk sideways because of the narrow entrance. As they went, Jeena produced a small orb of light that served as a flashlight, allowing them to see where they were going.

“Kinda cramped… how did he get through here?” Rallen grumbled.

Just as Jeena got ready to answer, Komainu gave a bark from a little further down the cave, making the two Officers jump at the sound (since it echoed around and sounded a lot louder than it should), before they hurried along.

As they closed in on the source of the bark, though…

“Hey whoa! What the…?!” yowled out a man’s voice, though it was cut off before the curse could be completed. “…eh? What are you supposed to be, then?” the same voice questioned, as Komainu gave a sound that was almost like a purr, but not quite there, which meant he was getting the desired attention.

Rallen’s eyes widened in surprise when the voice registered in his mind and he immediately increased his pace, almost leaving Jeena behind.

“R-Rallen!” she called out, though her voice was barely audible as Rallen came out in a wider portion of the cave and shouted out: “REX!!”

This caused the man who had been crouching to pet Komainu to yowl in surprise as he leaped to his feet, whirling around toward Rallen. Deep orange hair hung down his back all the way down to his waist, the long bangs obscuring his right eye entirely, leaving only the left eye, which was a bright orange-golden in color, visible.

“What in…? …!! N-no way… R… Rallen, is that…?”

Rallen stood for a moment, panting for breath slightly from rushing in like that, but slowly, his mouth quirked up in a grin as tears threatened to roll down from his eyes. And, just as Jeena made it into the cave, Rallen shouted out: “REX!!” and was halfway the cave floor and flying into the other man’s (surprised) arms.

“Oof! Holy… damn, you _really_ shot up through the roof, didn’t you?!” Rex laughed out as he brought up his own arms to return the hug. “Do I even _want_ to know how you got here?”

“We… we came this way the moment we got your message, you… you dolt!” Rallen chuckled out, still refusing to let go of the taller man.

“Since when does Nanairo… ‘Dolt’?” Rex repeated with a laugh. “Just how long have you been hanging out with Lizzy while I was gone, anywho?”

“N-nine years, almost,” Rallen managed to get out, still struggling against his tears, even if it was impossible to keep the grin off his face.

Jeena merely watched the two men with a small, relieved smile of her own, taking a moment to look the taller man over. And she immediately realized there was no way for her to mistake Rex for anything other than Rallen’s brother.

He was roughly a foot and a half taller than Rallen, but his hair was the same deep orange, though it was longer than Jeena recalled seeing on Rallen’s photo’s, as it hung down his back, reaching just past his waist, and the bangs obscured his right eye, which was identical in coloring to Rallen’s, only it was slightly more slanted. The clothes he wore were definitely not from anywhere in Nanairo, though they looked slightly similar in design to what she remembered from the Kaio system. Simple black trousers tucked into a pair of fur-lined boots, a deep blue, long-sleeved tunic held together with a belt, which also held a supply bag of some kind on the left, a pair of heavy gloves protecting his hands, and a travel cloak slung around his shoulders.

After giving the two brothers a few moments more to themselves, Jeena finally cleared her throat, though she couldn’t help but smile.

Rallen blinked at the sound, before he seemed to remember that Jeena was also still there and (reluctantly, by the looks of it) pulled away from his brother. “Oh, Rex, this is Jeena. She’s my partner in NPP.”

At the introduction, Rex looked over to Jeena curiously, his head cocked slightly, before he clucked his tongue. “NPP, eh?” he chuckled out to his brother. “So ya finally made it, huh?”

“I told you I would!” Rallen exclaimed with a proud grin, hands on his hips, which earned him a quick hair ruffle. “Hey!”

“Hahah, so you did, Rall.” With that said, Rex stepped up to Jeena and held out his hand. “Sure you know already, but I’m Rex. Nice to meet you.”

Jeena smiled and accepted the man’s firm handshake. “Nice to meet you too, sir. Rallen’s told me many good things about you.”

“He did, eh?” Rex murmured, briefly looking back to Rallen, who chuckled as he rubbed the back of his head, before turning to Jeena with a small frown. “One thing though; _please_ don’t call me ‘sir’, will you? I feel old enough already…”

“Oh um… sorry…” Jeena murmured – which got _her_ a hair ruffle. “H-hey!”

“Don’t take everything so seriously, Jeen,” Rex laughed out. “You act like I’m gonna bite your head off any moment.”

“Oh uh… S-sorry, I just…” Jeena started, only for Rex to put his hands on her cheeks and use his thumbs to push up the corners of her mouth. “Eep!”

“Loo-sen. Up. Already!” Rex said with a small frown, before he backed off with a small chuckle. “Seriously. Don’t be so uptight. Really, I don’t bite. The most I’ll do is make your hair messy,” he chuckled out.

Rallen had to resist the urge to laugh at the exchange between his partner and Rex. He’d known right away that Rex would be able to get along with Jeena just fine, and Jeena looked like she was having at least _some_ fun with the older orange-haired NPP Officer. Not that that was overly difficult; it was harder to _not_ like Rex, given how he was more than half the time.

Just as Rallen thought that, Komainu gave a small whine, jumping up against Rex’s ankles and making the other man look over with a curious hum.

“Yeah, I’ve met you already,” Rex chuckled as he crouched down to pet the Spectrobe, who closed his eyes happily at the attention. “So who or what is this, then?”

“Heh. He’s Komainu. Little attention glutton,” Rallen said as he walked over, crouching down to pick the little Spectrobe up. “As for ‘what’ he is… he’s a child Spectrobe.”

“Hm? ‘Spectrobe’? That’s a new one… That a new race that was discovered while I was out of the system?”

“Maybe it’s better if we explain that to you back at the cruiser,” Jeena offered.

“…Yeah, good idea,” Rex agreed with a nod.

 

A little later, the small group was back in the patrol cruiser, Rex sitting on one of the sleeping pods while Rallen and Jeena took the chairs in the room. While they didn’t have the time or the leisure to explain everything about the Spectrobes, the Krawl, or even Krux, Rallen and Jeena gave Rex a quick, short overview of the basis.

“Right, so… let me see if I got this right;” Rex said, starting to tick off the facts on his fingers, “Spectrobes are beings of light, and the Krawl are being of darkness. The Krawl are after the destruction of the systems for whatever reason, and the Spectrobes fight the Krawl to stop them. And the Spectrobe Masters are those who command the Spectrobes into battle. Right?”

“That’s the gist of it, yeah,” Rallen quipped casually as he nodded.

“Don’t forget that Spectrobes will fossilize once the Krawl threat has passed,” Jeena reminded them.

“I was getting to that, but I was running out of fingers…” Rex mumbled. “Anywho! So why did those Krawl come to Nanairo _twice_? Didn’t learn their lesson the first time?”

“Um… that’s kind of a long story…” Rallen mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck. “Sure you wanna hear that now?”

“Hmm… nah. May as well wait with that, then,” Rex said finally, waving the matter off, lightly scratching Komainu behind his ears from where the small Spectrobe rested beside him. “Kinda hard to imagine this little guy being able to take down anything though… How does that work? He charm those Krawl into killing themselves?”

Both Rallen and Jeena had to laugh at Rex’s question/joke, but Jeena shook her head. “Child Spectrobes don’t actually fight the Krawl. Only the adults do.”

“Oh? And how long does it take for a child Spectrobe to become an adult?” Rex asked, sounding genuinely curious even as he rolled Komainu onto his back to scratch his tummy.

“Well, that seems to vary per star system, really,” Rallen said slowly. “In Nanairo, it could take up to a few days, in Kaio, if you have the right mineral, it takes a few seconds.”

“That fast? Wow… then again, I suppose the threat of total annihilation would make anyone grow up quick.”

“Yeah, I guess so…” Rallen murmured in thought.

“If I may ask, what exactly happened to get you _here_ , Rex?” Jeena asked after a moment.

“Way to change the subject, Jeen,” Rallen mumbled to his partner.

“She asks a good question, though,” Rex pointed out while scratching Komainu under his chin. “Put simply, the engines died much sooner than I was expecting them to. I’d been hoping to at least make it all the way to Himuro, but either the fuel I put in it killed the damn thing, or I just did a lousy patch-up job. Either way, was my own fault, I suppose…”

“Wasn’t there a way to extend their functions a little bit?” the pink-haired girl asked.

“Think I didn’t try that? I did what I could and I failed. End of that story.”

“So that huge trench out there…?” Rallen started, and Rex nodded before he had the chance to finish the question.

“Eeyup. That’s where the damn thing skidded along the ground when I came down… I managed to jump out before it tipped over the edge, though I did bang my head upon coming down,” Rex grumbled rubbing his head a little. “I’m gonna have a lump here pretty soon, I’ll bet…”

Rallen allowed a small smile, as he watched his brother going back to petting Komainu. His brother had never seemed like the person who’d want to own a pet, but that might have been partially because of his dream to be an NPP Officer, which he had been pursuing since his own childhood. It was a little difficult to find pets that would be suited for NPP work, and even then, they’d have to be properly trained before HQ would allow them in. Watching Rex playing with the small Spectrobe like that, though, made it obvious that Rex probably would not pass up the offer if he had the chance.

“Heh… funny…” Rex mumbled suddenly.

“Huh? What’s funny?” Rallen asked.

“I can’t stand big around normal house pets, but this little guy is no problem to me, it seems.”

At those words, Rallen blinked in surprise, but it was Jeena who asked the question they both wanted answers to; “What’s wrong with house pets?”

“Oh don’t get me wrong. There’s nothing ‘wrong’ with them…” Rex said with a shrug. “I just can’t be around them… since I’m allergic to both cats and dogs.”

“Allergic?!” Rallen got out. “Since when?”

“Since forever,” Rex said simply. “Why do you think we never had any pets at home? Last time we had a dog—which was before you were born, by the way—I would always break out in a rash whenever he got close and I’d get teary eyes. I don’t sneeze, thankfully, but rash is equally annoying, if not more so…”

“Wow… no I… I never stopped to think about it… I just thought… never mind.”

Rex merely smiled, as he rolled Komainu over a few times, who let out a happy mewl at the attention he was getting. “It’s fine. Guess Mom never told you after I disappeared, huh?”

At those words, Rallen tensed up in alarm, suddenly realizing that there was something else that Rex probably hadn’t heard of yet since his return to Nanairo. Something that was most definitely very important.

“Um… Rex?”

“Hm? What’s up, Rall?”

“Well uh… just… there’s… I mean… there’s something you should… really know about before we go back home…”

“…?”

“It um… it’s-it’s about Mom… you see, she uh…”

But before Rallen could break the news to his brother, Komainu yelped loudly as he rolled over and off the pod and fell down to the ground with a small thud, drawing the humans’ attention to him immediately. Rex allowed a small laugh as he reached down to pick the Spectrobe up again.

“Careful where you roll there, Komainu,” he chuckled out. “You might hurt yourself.”

The small Spectrobe only barked, wriggling a little in Rex’s grip before he was put down again, this time in Rex’s lap, where he proceeded to cuddle again the man’s stomach happily.

“So… what’s this about mom?” Rex asked calmly.

“…N… no… never mind… it can wait…” Rallen murmured finally, looking down at his feet. He wanted to tell him so much, but he just couldn’t bring himself to. He knew very well that he’d have to tell him _before_ they came back to Kollin… but he just didn’t know how to say it.

Rex, of course, seemed to realize something was up, but he chose not to say anything about it. Not at the moment, at least. Rather than say something, Rex focused instead on keeping Komainu content where he lay.

Jeena giggled as she saw that Komainu didn’t seem to mind Rex in the very least, which was a rarity, since the small Spectrobe preferred to stick around by herself and Rallen above other people. But that might also have something to do with Rex being so similar to Rallen.

“Hey, you know, if you’re interested, we could go looking for a fossil somewhere and you could raise one of your own,” Jeena offered after a moment of thought.

Rex blinked in surprise at that, before he chuckled. “Hey, you sure that’d be a good idea? I thought they were reserved for Spectrobe Masters.”

“Well, Komainu doesn’t seem to mind,” Rallen pointed out with a smile, as Rex stroked the Spectrobe over his back. “I don’t think it’s much of a problem if you raise it as a child from the start. You can even consider it a ‘welcome home’ gift from me and Jeena, if you want.”

“Really, eh? Heh… then I guess I’ll—wait…” Rex paused mid-stroke, his smile fading and a thoughtful frown on his face. Komainu gave a confused sound up at Rex at the sudden pause, and barked a bit unhappily when Rex set him back on the pod and stood up, beginning to search through his bag quickly. “Please don’t tell me…” he mumbled to himself, before he searched through his pockets.

“Rex? Is something wrong?” Rallen asked cautiously.

“… _Sheee-iiit!!_ ” Rex nearly shouted, before he dashed for the elevator.

“Hey wha--Rex!! Hold up a second!!” Rallen called out, hurrying after Rex with Jeena and Komainu.

They caught up to Rex just as he was hurrying outside, and Rallen managed to snag him by his wrist.

“Wait just a second, will you?! What’s got you so panicky?”

“I got every right to be ‘panicky’! I forgot something in the damn ship and I can’t leave this place without it!”

Jeena blinked and cocked her head. “Huh? What’s so important that you can’t leave without it??”

“Let me just put it this way; I leave without it, and I’m dead once we’re back on Kollin,” Rex grumbled, rubbing his temple. “Coz Lizzy’s prolly gonna skin me alive.”

Rallen frowned a little in thought, before it dawned on him what Rex had to be talking about. “Oh? So you actually—”

“You say one more word and you’ll regret it, Rallen,” Rex snarled out under his breath, and Rallen immediately snapped his jaw shut, making Jeena gawk in slight surprise at the fact that Rex stopped Rallen’s quip so easily.

“Okay, okay, I’ll shut up…”

Jeena frowned in thought, before she turned to Rex. “Well, if it’s that important, we’ll help you look for it.”

“Um… That’s not really necessary, Jeen… I know where I left it, I just need to—”

“Ah, c’mon! Ya gotta get into the pit to pick it up, right? You could use all the help you can get to get down there, don’t you?” Rallen quipped, and Rex actually frowned.

“…I’m gonna get you for that…” he threatened softly, before he sighed. “Well, _fine_. Let’s just move…”

“Of course. Let’s go.”

“Yep. Iku ze!”


	4. Presents

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rallen, Jeena and Rex go to collect Liz's birthday present... only for Rex to pull out one more surprise.

Soon enough, they were back in the cave where they had first found Rex. The reason for this was simple; Rex had already found a way down to the lower levels, but he’d been in the middle of digging though the wall when Rallen and Jeena had appeared. And with the tools that the two NPP Officers had on them, it was easy enough to break through.

“Whoo! That would’ve taken me forever at the rate I was going,” Rex laughed out as he and Rallen tore down the last of the wall.

“Heh, good thing we came along then, huh?” Rallen quipped.

Jeena merely smiled as she walked over. “That’s… rather deep… isn’t it?”

“Sadly… Well, we may as well get to climbing,” Rex murmured.

With that said, the small group slowly began their descent, with Jeena calling out her little orb of light again as they went. It wasn’t overly difficult to get down, for which they were all very glad, but it was still very dark, even with the light source they had, which wasn’t all that much in the first place.

“Ow!! Dammit that smarts!!” Rex almost howled out as he smacked his forehead into yet another ledge he hadn’t spotted in time, absently rubbing the sore spot that would likely be a bruise later.

“Sorry, Rex, but we don’t have any other source of light…” Jeena apologized.

“It’s fine. I’ll manage somehow…”

 

After a few minutes of climbing and bumping their head and toes into ledges and hidden rocks, they finally touched down on the bottom of the shaft. Which, by the way, was even darker, thus making it almost impossible to see anything.

“Sheesh! This place is deep!” Rallen exclaimed as he looked up in the direction of the pit from where Rex’s ship had fallen.

“Yeah… we went down pretty far…” Jeena said with a small nod. “Thankfully you weren’t on the ship when it fell or you might not have been here…”

“You’re telling me… esh…” Rex grumbled, hands on his hips as he looked upward to the pit’s entrance as well. “Well, whatever, let’s just find a way to that scrapheap shall we? I really don’t like this place one bit…”

“Right.”

“Agreed, let’s go.”

With that said, the small group began to move ahead, carefully maneuvering around chunks of debris and making their way further into the darkness. Komainu was running ahead of them, sniffing along the ground curiously as they went. The little Spectrobe had obviously managed to pick up that they were looking for something very important, so he was doing whatever he could without Rallen or Jeena needing to tell him.

“Hey, Jeena…” Rallen whispered after a moment, lightly taking his partner’s wrist and making her walk a little slower to let Rex walk ahead of them. “So… how’s your first impression been of Rex?”

Jeena blinked, but she allowed a semi-amused, semi-teasing smile. “My first impression of your brother is just as I thought it would be.”

Rallen quirked an eyebrow up at the cryptic words, waiting a few seconds before actually responding. “Soooo… is that a good thing?”

“Well, he’s almost a carbon copy of you, so it depends on how you look at it.”

“Hey!”

Jeena allowed a giggle at Rallen’s frown/pout, before she looked ahead toward where Rex was scaling one of the pieces of debris, helping Komainu over the large piece as well. “But… he strikes me as a good person,” Jeena said with a decisive nod. Turning to Rallen, she said: “He’s probably like you in that, too; doesn’t know when to give up.”

At those words, Rallen actually flushed slightly, but it went unseen in the dark, for which he was thankful. He rubbed the back of his head a bit sheepishly, a small lop-sided grin on his face. “Well uh…”

“Hey lovebirds!! If you two are done goofing around, get over here!!” Rex suddenly called out, and this time _both_ NPP Officers flushed bright red.

“Th-that’s not funny, Rex!!” Rallen called out as they hurried over to where the man was waiting.

“So then don’t go whispering behind my back, Rall,” Rex chuckled out. “Anyway, we got a small problem here…”

When Rallen and Jeena joined Rex and Komainu, they realized immediately what was wrong. Ahead of them was yet another pit, and it was big enough to prevent them from going anywhere, since it was too long to jump over and too wide to shimmy past (which wouldn’t have worked anyway without ledges).

“Another pit? Esh… someone really doesn’t want us progressing any further…” Rallen grumbled, rubbing the back of his head. “How do we get over this?”

“I’m not sure…” Jeena murmured, even as Rex took a few steps back and looked up. “We need to make a bridge, but we’ll need to--”

“Well, how ‘bout we drag that stalactite down from where it’s hanging?” Rex asked casually, nodding upward to the ceiling. As Rallen and Jeena looked up, Rex quipped: “That thing would be a perfect bridge.”

True enough, there was a large stalactite hanging right above the pit that would probably fit perfectly if they could break it off properly. However, it was well out of their range, and it was too big and solid for a child Spectrobe to break loose.

“With all due respect, Rex,” Jeena said after a moment, as Rex put his right indexfinger to his mouth and bit down on the material of his glove, pulling it off with just his teeth, “it’s a nice idea, but we can’t break it loose from the ceiling… it’s better if we just…”

“Gimme like 20 seconds and I’ll rip that thing loose,” Rex said casually as he reached over to roll up his right sleeve.

“Huh?”

Rallen and Jeena exchanged a look as Rex did so, quietly questioning what the older man had just said, before turning to Rex as he placed his glove in his pocket for a moment.

“You got some kind of gadget to pull that thing down, Rex?” Rallen asked curiously with his head slightly cocked to the side.

“‘Gadget’? …Hmm… Suppose you could call it that,” Rex chuckled, raising his right arm, causing both Rallen and Jeena to stare in a combination of shock and awe.

Rex’s right arm to just above the elbow appeared to be made of some sort of dull golden material, though it looked more like it was a collection of particles of varying sizes, some the size of pebbles and others almost the size of a baseball, with pale blue energy-like veins keeping them all clunked together. The particles were positioned in such a way that, if the limb was fully clothed, you wouldn’t be able to see it wasn’t a natural arm, and they even imitated the nails on his fingers.

“Whoa! What _is_ that?!” Rallen asked in awe.

“Ah, just something I found when I was out of Nanairo… Circumstances could’ve been better, but I suppose I can’t complain,” Rex quipped with a light shrug as he brought up his hand. “I’ll explain those some other time, though. Let’s make this here bridge, first.”

As he finished saying that, the energy between the particles pulsed suddenly – and the segments broke apart and began to hover in midair around the stump that remained of Rex’s arm, making it obvious that the segments actually served as his arm, rather than simply cover it. The energy that had kept them connected now seemed to be keeping them afloat, making the golden material shine a light silvery-blue, almost.

Both Jeena and Rallen watched curiously as the segments hovered for a moment while Rex took a deep breath, as though in concentration, before the segments rushed up toward the stalactite, coalescing and forming a powerful looking claw, which grabbed hold of the bottom of the spire. Rex frowned in thought, as the claw  seemed to be tugging on the piece of rock.

“Damn thing’s more stubborn than I thought…” he grumbled softly, before he allowed a small smirk. “Ain’t gonna help you though!”

The claw flexed its fingers around the spire briefly, as though adjusting its hold, before it yanked sharply, making the spire crack ominously.

“Get the hell down from there already!!”

With that said and one more, resounding crash that echoed through the cave and made Jeena and Rallen jump back in surprise, the spire broke loose from the ceiling and the claw released the stalactite, moving out of the way quickly and catching it by the top by drilling its fingers into the surface. And, despite that it wasn’t actually attached to Rex’s arm right then, the man actually groaned, as though he were struggling to keep the spire in midair.

“Gah! Dammit! Wasn’t expecting it to be THIS heavy!”

The claw seemed to shake subtly, but it still lowered the spire into the hole, letting it go only when Rex seemed to be positive it wouldn’t fall all the way down. Once he seemed completely sure of this, the claw pried itself loose from the spire and burst apart again, flying back over to Rex and reforming into his arm. The orange-haired NPP Officer took a moment to flex his fingers, before adjusting his sleeve and pulling his glove on again.

“Wow! That was so awesome! What is that thing?!” Rallen called out in excitement.

“What it is? Heh, no clue,” Rex admitted, rotating his shoulder a bit. “All I really know is that it’s completely replaced my right arm after I lost my arm a few years again. Works as well as my old arm… with some added extras.”

“I see… was it part of the technology of the planet you ended up on?” Jeena asked, even as they began to climb over the stalactite to cross what was left of the pit.

“Not quite… apparently, it’s some kind of ‘lost technology’ or whatever…” Rex said, using air quotes to emphasize the “lost technology” part. “Wasn’t too interested in the stuff, really; that’s Lizzy’s department… I just remember that it’s part of a civilization from couple dozen years ago.”

“Lost technology, huh?” Rallen murmured thoughtfully.

“Do you think it’s possible to replicate it, Rex?” Jeena asked, almost as curious as her partner.

“I don’t think so; this stuff’s more like a mineral from what I can tell. Plus, I’d rather not have anyone poking around in it much,” Rex quipped. “It serves as my arm now, and I _do_ actually feel heat, cold and pain with this limb. Plus, I dunno if this thing can actually ‘heal’ if I get injured, and quite honestly; I’d rather not test that.”

“Understandable…” Rallen mumbled, as he seemed to think for a few moments.

But before he could say anything, Komainu barked loudly and dashed ahead. Wordlessly, the three humans hurried after the little Spectrobe, down a winding pathway, until they finally arrived inside a wide cave like area.

The walls and part of the ground were littered with razor sharp spires that were sticking out at all angles, and up ahead of them, in the very back of the room, was what remained of what must’ve been Rex’s ship at one point. It was large, a little bigger than the standard patrol cruiser, but it almost looked like the relic spaceship Rallen and Jeena dug up on Nessa. When it had been in one piece, it must’ve looked quite impressive. Now, it had been reduced to a large metal pincushion.

“Sheesh! I’m glad you managed to jump out before it fell!” Rallen exclaimed in slight shock.

“Yyyyeeeeaaaah… you and me both…” Rex managed to get out, wincing slightly at the thought of what might’ve happened if he hadn’t leaped out. “That woulda really stung…”

Jeena bit her lip a little, knowing just how lucky Rex had been that he managed to jump out in time. If he hadn’t…

“Anywho! Let’s go!” Rex called out, moving toward the ship casually.

“Hey, bro! Wait up!” Rallen called out, hurrying after with Jeena and Komainu.

“…esh! What a mess!” the taller man grumbled as he stood before the ship. “If this was my cruiser, I dunno who’d kill me first; Grant or Lizzy…”

Rex actually chuckled a bit, but Jeena frowned. However, she didn’t say anything about it and instead asked: “So how exactly did you get it down here anyway?”

“How I got it here, huh?” Rex mumbled in thought, tilting his head a little.

 

_“Oyoooyyyaaawn… eshkivilles… how far away is Himuro from Section Y, anyway?” Rex grumbled in annoyance, rubbing at his eyes to remove the tears that his last yawn had brought on. “I swear… either Nanairo expanded since I was gone, or this pile of dust is slower than I originally thought…”_

_Taking a brief moment off the controls to stretch, Rex grumbled a little incoherently under his breath as he stretched out, cracking his fingers as he did. Taking hold of the wheel again, Rex rubbed the back of his head and clucked his tongue._

_“This thing doesn’t have autopilot anywhere does it? …Why am I even asking? I checked that before I left!” Rex took a moment to rub the bridge of his nose, before murmuring: “And I gotta stop talking to myself… talking to yourself is the first sign of insanity…”_

_Suppressing another yawn, Rex gazed out upon the open space ahead of him, allowing a small smile. “But… at least I made it back… Wonder if Rallen’s made it into NPP while I was gone. I’m sure Lizzy must’ve been training him properly… well, I hope she did, at least. She said she would, but… …Ah, whatever. I should worry more ‘bout my own hide… she’s prolly gonna kill me if I dare show up empty-handed… hell, she might do it anyway…”_

_Looking to the side, he allowed a fond smile as his gaze rested on the small object he had left there. Bringing up his right hand, he allowed a few segments of his hand to float over and pick it up, placing it in the palm of his hand before they returned to their original locations in his arm again. “Hope she keeps me alive for long enough to ask her, though… I might be too late already… but hell. Better late than never… I don’t think I’d ever be able to forgive myself if I ended up leaving again without asking…”_

_Quietly, he brought it to his chest and sighed softly. “…I wonder what she’ll say… Would she even listen? …hope so…”_

_Suddenly, the alarm blared and Rex jumped, the sudden motion causing the object in his hand to fly from his hand to scatter across the floor. “Oh you gotta be! Do I just have the universe’s worst possible luck or what?!” Rex snarled out as he fiddled with some of the controls, even as a few segments of his arm rushed out from under his glove to quickly grab the fallen object.  “Why now of all times?! I’m nowhere near Himuro yet! Shit!!” Rex roared, slamming his fist on the metal plating. “What to do? This thing doesn’t look like it’s got the energy to reach Himuro… and the last thing I need is to float around endlessly… Ugh… my luck really su—WHOA!!”_

_The last exclamation was because the ship suddenly tilted sideways, almost throwing Rex out of his seat. Somehow, he managed to stay as upright as he could, his right arm coiled around the armrest and his left hand holding onto the wheel._

_“What the hell?! …Oh shit, don’t tell me…! Crap! Meido’s gravity is pulling this damn thing in! Grrr! Said it once, I’ll say it again; my luck sucks!”_

_With the engines already dying on him, it was really only a matter of time before the ship could no longer resist Meido’s gravitational pull and it plummeted down. Of course, Rex wasn’t going to go down that easy, and somehow he managed to swerve the ship around for it to do a bellyflop onto Meido’s surface, where it skidded along before coming to a stop on the edge of the pit. The sudden halt snapped Rex forward and then backward, smashing his skull into the back of his seat with a resounding crack._

_“OW!! DAMMIT!!” Rex roared out, gripping his head in both hands as he shook the stars away from his vision. “Damn!! That smart!! …eep!”_

_Rallen stared in slight horror as he realized his ship was now resting rather precariously on the edge of a pit, and he was only a few inches away from tipping over the edge._

_“Oh shit shit shit shit!” he hissed, reaching for the seatbelt and quickly undoing it before scrambling out of the seat and toward the back and the ship’s only exit. His rapid footfalls made the ship tilt slightly backwards, but Rex wasn’t about to test his luck and, as he reached the door, he threw it open without a second thought and leaped out._

_And not a moment too soon as the ship pitched forward and fell down the pit with a loud crash._

_“…shit… too… close…” Rex breathed out, dropping backwards onto his back with a great sigh of relief. “…that leaves me with another problem, though… how do I get outta here?”_

 

“Oh, right… _that_ was where I hit my head… ow…” Rex mumbled, rubbing the back of his head an running his fingers lightly over the forming lump. “Hope I didn’t crack my skull right open there…”

“Do you need me to run a scan of it real quick, Rex?” Jeena asked politely.

“Well… if you could, please do.”

Jeena nodded and walked over, bringing up her hand, activating her scanner and moving it across the back of Rex’s head, searching for any serious injuries. As she came to the spot where he had bumped his head, she paused for a moment. Finally, however, she dismissed the scanner and said: “It’s not cracked. But you will have a lump and a bruise there, unfortunately.”

“Great… Wonder how long it’ll stay that light when I get back…” Rex murmured with a light chuckle before he shook the matter off. “Well, anywho, I’ll just go and grab what I left and I’ll be right back.”

“We’ll hel--”

“I’ll be fine, Rallen,” Rex cut his brother off. “Seriously, I just need to grab a few things and then we can go home.”

Rallen allowed a small chuckle with his hands on his hips. “What? You afraid we’ll ruin the surprise for--”

“You _dare_ finish that and I’ll give you something to laugh about, Rallen,” Rex suddenly snarled with a deep scowl on his face, but his mouth had quirked up in a highly amused smirk, as though he was expecting Rallen to finish.

“…Shutting up,” Rallen mumbled almost immediately, once again startling Jeena with how easy Rex had managed to quiet her partner.

“Good,” Rex quipped, his expression lighting up immediately, before he spun on his heel with a simple: “Be right back.”

Once Rex had opened the door to his ship and walked inside, Jeena turned to Rallen.

“What was that about?” she asked curiously.

“Eh? …Oh uh… n-nothing, really…” Rallen coughed, rubbing the side of his chin as he looked off to the side. “Just… stuff… nothing serious.”

Jeena quirked an eyebrow at her partner, but Rallen was looking away pointedly for whatever reason. There was something he was hiding from her, but she could already tell it was going to very difficult to get it out of him.

Well… there were other ways to get that information, of course.

For a while, they just stood and waited, but Rex was taking a rather long time to just pick up some items he had forgotten. However, they stayed where they were and waited… until there came a “thud” followed by a pained cry plus curse from Rex from within the ship. Both of them looked up in surprise, but it was Jeena who spoke.

“Rex, is something wrong?

“I’m fine!! Just bumped my head trying to find something,” Rex called out.

Rallen cocked an eyebrow in question and called out: “I thought you said you knew where it was!”

“Yeah, I already got that, but I just remembered I brought something else, too!” the other man called back in response.

Jeena and Rallen exchanged a confused look, before looking over as Rex came back over, carrying some kind of leather bag with him. The man released a small sigh of what could almost be relief as he stepped up beside them.

“Damn, am I glad I jumped out of that on time…” Rex mumbled, looking back to the ship. “Woulda speared my face through if I hadn’t moved…”

“That bad?” Rallen asked with a chuckle.

“Yeah. If it wasn’t broken already, it surely would be now… control panel’s looking like a giant porcupine,” the other man grumbled.

Rallen only chuckled lightly, while Jeena smiled with a mixture of relief and amusement. “So… you found what you were looking for then?”

“Yeah… surprised it didn’t shatter when the ship came down, but whatever. I ain’t complaining. Here,” Rex said simply, tossing the bag to Rallen, who gave a surprised yelp as he caught it.

“Huh…? What’s this for?”

“Ah, just something I found back on that planet,” Rex mumbled, rubbing the back of his head. “You remember the last time Lizzy was reading one of those books from Winleo when she came over?”

“Win-what?” Rallen mumbled, frowning in slight confusion, but Jeena seemed to recognize the name.

“Wasn’t that that famous excavator from a few years ago?” she asked, which immediately caused Rallen’s face to light up in realization.

“Oh! That excavation booklet she was always burying her nose in? Well… I remember her reading it a few times…” he admitted, though he frowned as he added “but I can’t really remember anything about the last time…”

Rex chuckled as he crossed his arms. “She was reading the part where it described how to properly excavate something buried in the ground, remember?”

Rallen only needed a moment to think on that one. “Oh yeah… I was asking her about why there were so many pictures of humps of rock and she explained to me about excavating…”

“Tried to, at least,” Rex chuckled. “You were barely 6 at the time, so you didn’t really understand everything she said.”

“So sue me!”

“You got the money for it?”

“Maybe, maybe not. Not telling you, though!”

Jeena giggled at the minor squabble, and even the boys had to chuckle at their own childishness.

“Anywho, you remember what you said to her?”

That question took Rallen a few moments as he shut his eyes and rubbed his temple.

 

_“Whuzzat, Lizzy?” a smaller Rallen asked as he climbed on the couch and poked his head under Liz’s arm where she was holding her book again. Rex had gone upstairs for a moment to help their mom, so Rallen was left in the living room with Lizzy. Not that he minded much, but Lizzy could be a little dull if his big brother wasn’t around._

_“…It’s a book, Rallen,” she said simply, not even looking over._

_“I know it’s a book! We have those in school, too!” Rallen pointed out immediately._

_“So why’d you ask what it was?”_

_“Mooohhh! What’s it about, Lizzy?”_

_“Would you stop calling me that?”_

_“But you let Rex call you that!”_

_“If he calls me that he gets a punch to the face, Rallen.”_

_“But you let him anyway!”_

_Liz sighed in exasperation and hit her forehead with the book, obviously getting a tad annoyed with him, but that was fine. Rallen knew that Lizzy wasn’t a bad person, so he wasn’t scared of her one bit. So he had no qualms about climbing into her lap and tugging the book down to look at the pictures, since the words were too small for him to read yet._

_“…why’re there pieces of rock on the pictures??” Rallen asked, cocking his head back to look at Lizzy upside down._

_The white-blonde haired woman looked down at him for a moment longer, seemingly debating between telling Rallen to get off or just tossing him off, but eventually, she merely rubbed her temple and said with a half-concealed sigh: “This is about archeology, Rallen. There’s fossils in those pieces of rock that have to be excavated properly before they can be displayed in the museum.”_

_“…huh? I dun get it…” Rallen whined, making Liz look to him in slight annoyance._

_“This isn’t for little kids, Rallen.”_

_“I’m not little! I’m almost 6 years old!!”_

_“Meaning you’re still just a kid.”_

_“You’re mean, Lizzy!”_

_“Uh-huh…”_

_Rallen spent the next few minutes pouting, arms crossed over his chest and back pressed against Lizzy’s stomach, while the girl in question continued to read silently. They remained like this for a few minutes, until Rallen noticed something in the pictures._

_“…Hey, that looks like a leg!”_

_“…It should. Since it is a leg.”_

_“There’s someone in the rock?!”_

_“…No, Rallen. It’s just the remains of someone.”_

_“Remains??”_

_“…Someone fell in the mud, couldn’t get out, and turned to stone. And these people dig them out again.”_

_“Oooooh! So if they get out again, can they go back to normal??”_

_“…Maybe.”_

_“That is so cool!! I wanna dig out a person too when I grow up!”_

_“I thought you wanted to be NPP when you grew up…”_

_“That too! I wanna do both!”_

_“…Seriously… you can’t be two things at a time.”_

_“I so could!!”_

_“…” Liz sighed again. “If you say so, Rallen…”_

 

“Oh… right. I told her I wanted to go excavating myself one day. …no way…” Rallen stared at his brother in surprise, but the older man merely smirked with his arms crossed over his chest. Without another word, Rallen pulled open the bag he had been tossed and reached inside, feeling around for whatever had been stuffed in there.

His fingers soon found the rough surface of what was unmistakably rock, and from the feel of it, it had been carved in a cube. It was bigger than he thought originally, though, so he had to use two hands to pull the item out. And as he thought, it was a large cube of rock, but sticking out from one of the sides was something that was obviously not a mere piece of rock sticking out at an awkward angle.

“This is…”

“Yeah. Some kinda fossil I picked up there. Place was literally full of ‘em, really and I couldn’t choose so I picked one at random,” the other man said with a shrug.

Jeena frowned a little at the odd shape of what she believed was either an elbow or a knees of something tiny. In fact, given the size of the lump of rock, it had to be around Komainu’s size. Which made her wonder if maybe, _just maybe_ …

Bringing up her hand, Jeena activated her scanner and ran it over the cube for a moment, just to confirm her suspicions. And she was not disappointed.

“This isn’t just a fossil…” she said, drawing the boys’ attention. “It’s a Spectrobe fossil.”

“It is??” both of them asked in slight surprise, looking to the hump of rock Rallen was holding.

“I’m sure it is,” Jeena said with a nod, before she gave a small smile. “But there’s only one way to know for sure, right?”

At that, Rallen grinned and pumped his fist. “Right! Let’s get back to the cruiser and get this little guy out of this hunk of rock!”

Rex chuckled. “Sure it’s going to be that easy?”

“Ha! You just wait and see, bro!!”

 

And see he did. As Rallen got seated back in the cruiser behind what Rallen and Jeena called their little “lab”, he had been a little skeptical, despite the rather impressive amount of excavation tools they had. But as Rallen got to work, Rex could only stare as Rex effectively used both the scanner and laser tools to get the majority of the rock cluster cut down to size in less than 20 seconds. In the next 15, he had picked up a small hammer and had begun carefully breaking off the larger chunks he had missed with the laser. Then he had pulled out the small drill to get to some smaller, more difficult to reach spots, before he finally picked up a blow tool to get rid of the last remaining fragments of rock.

His final time according to Jeena’s timer was 53.31 seconds.

“Okay, I admit; I’m impressed,” Rex laughed out as Rallen stood up again, a big grin on his face and holding the fossil in his hands.

Rallen merely chuckled, before he brought up the fossil again. “Well, you were right, Jeena. It’s definitely a Spectrobe.”

“Yeah… but not any kind we’ve seen thus far on Nanairo or Kaio…” Jeena agreed with a small nod, even as Komainu barked happily, hopping about everyone’s feet at the prospect of meeting a new friend.

“In that case, how ‘bout we—Rex? You okay?” Rallen asked suddenly as Rex reached out for his head with a slight groan.

“Yeah, I’m fine… think that last hit is starting to kick in right about now… dammit, like my head’s gonna split open…” the taller man grumbled as he held his head with one hand.

“Maybe you should lay down, then,” Jeena offered. “It has been a tiring day.”

“Yeah, and it’s not even noon, yet…” Rallen murmured.

“Might be a good idea… I could use a break after all that crap… You got some aspirin, Jeen?”

“I should. I’ll be right back,” the pink-haired girl said, heading out of the room for the moment.

Rallen watched her go for a moment, before he set the fossil aside for the moment. “C’mon. I’ll show you where you can crash for the time being.”

“Thanks, bro.”

Rallen walked ahead of Rex toward where they kept the resting quarters, which was only really used if the pair of NPP Officers were dead tired and had no other place to spend the night. Since patrols were usually done daily and allowed NPP’s to take necessary breaks when on other planets in Nanairo, where they could rest for free at the barracks, it wasn’t often needed for them to use it. And as tempting as it was to take a nap in the middle of a patrol mission, it wasn’t something that was recommended, given that anything could happen if no one was present to pilot the cruiser.

“Here we go,” Rallen said, gesturing for his bed. “You can rest here until your head’s feeling better.”

“Great. Knowing my luck, I’ll need it for when I run into Liz again…” Rex mumbled, rubbing his temple briefly with his right hand before he plopped down on the bed.

This action made Rallen turn his attention to his brother’s right arm again. He’d only seen him use the limb once, but he couldn’t get the image of the limb breaking apart and ripping down the stalactite out of his mind. While he wasn’t entirely sure he wanted to know just what kind of accident had cost Rex his arm and got him the replacement that he ended up with, that didn’t stop his endless curiosity toward it.

“Say, Rex?”

“Yeah?”

“Um… about your arm… I was wondering… well um…” Rallen paused to scratch at his chin as Rex looked up at him. “Uh… would you mind if I… um, you know…”

Rex allowed a chuckle as Rallen struggled to find the words he needed to ask what he wanted, before he shook his head. “You’re curious about what it’s like, right?”

“Well… yeah, kinda.”

The taller man allowed a smile, reaching for his right hand and removing his glove, revealing his dark golden and blue-veined limb. Before he started talking though, he patted the bed beside him, and Rallen immediately moved over and sat down beside his brother. “I’ll be honest; I really don’t know all too much about it myself. All I really know is that it responds to my body in the same way my actual arm would’ve. Breaking it up and shaping it into other stuff took me a lot of practice, though, and I had to be extremely carefully not to accidentally break it up to pieces.”

“Really?”

“Yeah… Woke up one night to find most of arm scattered around the room trying to move my things about.” Rallen actually laughed for a moment, and Rex chuckled. “Anywho, like I said, it responds just like a normal arm, and half the time I don’t even have to think about it.”

“Huh… so you have no idea what it was originally for?” Rallen asked, reaching over and poking the material. He was a bit surprised that it moved under his prodding finger in the same way his own arm would, until it came to the point where the bone should be. “Wow… that’s impressive.”

“I know… And no, unfortunately, I got no idea. I was just looking for a way off the place and I get wrapped up in an accident and end up with this thing on my arm and my depth perception screwed.”

“I se—wait, what?!” Rallen choked out in surprise.

Rex blinked briefly and looked like he was about to say something, before he allowed a small smirk. “Oh, right. I let my bangs grow over it…” he mumbled, reaching up with his hand and moving his bangs out of the way.

Rallen stared in shock when he saw the scar that ran over Rex’s right eye, which was now almost entirely white, both the iris and pupil having lost most (if not all) of their pigments. “Y-your eye…!”

“Yeah… I don’t even remember what I pulled to get this old thing,” Rex admitted, letting his bangs fall over his eye again, smoothing them out a bit absently as he continued, “but since it’s not exactly ‘pretty-looking’, I decided to let my bangs grow over it to hide it. Not like I can actually see with it anymore, so it doesn’t bother me much.”

“Much?”

“Well, I had to get used to not moving them aside, after all.”

Rallen was silent for a few moments, but then he chuckled a bit, suddenly realizing something. “Well, guess that means you and Liz make a perfect couple, right?”

“Where did _that_ come from suddenly?” Rex asked with a confused frown.

“Well… Liz’s blind on the left ever since… you know. I’m just saying, with you being blind right—”

“How did she get blind?!”

That question nearly made Rallen jump, but somehow, he’d expected it. “Well… half-blind, actually… but I think it happened when you two got off the cruiser _that_ time… But she never blamed you for that!” Rallen added quickly upon seeing the slight shift in his brother’s expression. “I mean, it wasn’t your fault! It’s not like you could’ve prevented the cruiser from blowing up at that time, right?”

Rex stared at his younger brother for a few more moments, before he let out a short breath of what could only be relief. “Really? Whew…  that’s good…” he breathed. “Is… is she alright beside that?”

“Yeah… Just a bit depressed coz you were away, that’s all.”

“Lizzy? Depressed?” Rex let out with a chuckle, before he gave a short bout of laughter. “That doesn’t sound like her at all…”

“You’d be surprised,” Rallen quipped with a small smile.

“Uh-huh, sure…”

Just then, Jeena walked into the room, carrying two aspirin in one hand and a bottle of water in the other. Spotting the pair sitting on the bed, she allowed a small smile. “Am I interrupting?”

“Nah, it’s fine, Jeen,” Rex said, waving the matter off.

Jeena nodded and walked over and handed both items to the taller man. “Well, here you are.”

Rex nodded and accepted both items with a small “Thanks,” before he popped both pills in his mouth, removed the bottle’s cap, put it to his mouth, and then tossed both his head and the bottle back, letting the water pour into his mouth. Jeena could only stare as Rex gulped down the entire contents of the bottle in only a few seconds, but Rallen didn’t seem surprised and he only chuckled at Jeena’s expression.

“Woo!! I needed that!” Rex exclaimed once he had finished the entire thing and removed it from his lips.

“…w-wow… you must’ve been really thirsty, huh?” Jeena managed to get out.

“Yeah, and _damn!_ Did that taste good!” Rex laughed out. “Can’t believe I actually missed the taste of _water_ , of all things!”

“Wasn’t there any water where you ended up then?” Rallen asked, a bit curious.

“Oh there was… but that stuff was horrible…” Rex growled out, before he brought up one hand to cover his mouth as he yawned. “Hoo-boy… That one came outta nowhere…”

Rallen and Jeena exchanged a small look accompanied by a smile as Rallen stood up. “Well, we’ll just let you rest for now, alright?”

“Yeah, yeah… sure…” Rex mumbled, rubbing at his eye for a moment, but it only made Rallen smile more.

As the two NPP’s headed for the door, Rex kicked off his boots and dropped himself back on the bed with a great sigh, his eyes already shut and one arm below the pillow to support his head and neck. Rallen paused at the doorway as he was about to step through, and Jeena watched him stare at his brother for a few moments, even as Komainu hopped on the bed and onto Rex’s stomach to curl up, before he spoke.

“Hey, Rex?”

“Yeah?” Rex hadn’t even bothered to open his eyes at the call, let alone turn to the other boy, indicating just how tired he had to be.

“…Welcome home.”

“…thanks. Now get outta here before I get grumpy, Rall.”

Rallen laughed and nodded, even if Rex couldn’t see it. “Alright. G’night.”

And with that, he stepped out and allowed the door to close, turning to Jeena with a grin.

“So… what do you think of Rex now?”

Jeena giggled. “I was right.”

“Eh?”

“You two are a perfect mirror image of each other.”

“Is that a good thing?”

“Depends on how you look at it.”

“Hey now!”

Jeena merely laughed quietly as the pair headed back for the cockpit.


	5. Epilogue: Belated

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rallen, Jeena and Rex return to Kollin... and thus comes the final hurdle.

Rallen stretched out in his seat with a barely suppressed yawn, before he relaxed and looked to Jeena casually, hands behind his head. “So… you ready to start heading home?”

Jeena looked over curiously, before she frowned a little. “Shouldn’t we wait until your brother’s awake again? What if the engine wakes him up?”

“Ah, he’ll be _fine!_ Once he falls asleep, he can sleep through just about anything!” Rallen chuckled out.

Jeena sighed, but she allowed a fond smile. “Alright, but if he comes up complaining that we woke him, I’m blaming it on you.”

“Roger that,” Rallen said with a grin as he straightened up and started the engines.

His partner merely smiled and shook her head. “You’re such a goof.”

And with that said, the cruiser lifted off of the planet’s surface and then took off.

 

They were halfway from Meido to Kollin when the comm system suddenly beeped, signaling they had an incoming call.

 “Hm? Oh. You think it’s Liz?” Rallen asked curiously with a small grin on his face.

“Wouldn’t that be something?” his partner said with a small smile of her own as she patched the call through.

As the screen flickered on, it was Grant’s face that greeted them.

“ _Rallen, Jeena. Where have you two been?_ ”

 “We’re sorry, sir. We got a little sidetracked whilst running an errand for Commander Marks,” Jeena said politely as Rallen kept his attention on their path.

“ _Sidetracked? You were outside of communication range for most of the day. What happened?_ ”

 “Nothing, really. Nothing major, at least,” Rallen said cheekily, sharing a knowing glance with his partner, who shot him a small smile of her own.

“ _Hm? So something did happen?_” Grant asked, a suspicious frown on his face.

“Something like that,” Rallen said with a small smirk. “But you’ll see that for yourself once we get back.”

Though Grant still appeared to be suspicious of Rallen’s words, he said nothing else of it, really. “ _Hm. Very well. I will see you when you return, then._ ”

And then the connection was cut once again.

Rallen chuckled as he shared a look with Jeena. “Man, I can’t wait to see the look on his face when Rex shows up in front of him.”

“Why’s that?” Jeena asked.

“Well… Grant was…” Rallen started, but he paused for a moment to frown, and looked out into space again for a while. “…He was… one of the people who… believed Rex was dead when Liz came home alone.” Pausing to shake his head, Rallen gave a small sigh before he spoke again. “He didn’t say anything about it… but it was pretty obvious that’s what he thought…”

Jeena’s look became understanding and she nodded. She had a feeling that this wasn’t so much about making Grant eat his words, but more about showing Grant that he had been a fool for losing his trust in Rex. Though there would probably be more who thought as such, which meant those two were going to have fun in one way or another.

“Right! Let’s move on out!” Rallen exclaimed suddenly, and then kicked off the engines for Kollin once again.

 

It was around mid-afternoon by the time that their cruiser docked at NPPHQ, and, in comparison to when they left, the place was bustling with activity.

Rallen allowed a grin as he stretched his arms above his head, briefly. “Whew! _Finally_ we’re back!”

Jeena smiled at her partner and said with a small chuckle: “You act like we’ve been gone for ages, Rallen.”

“Well, _we_ haven’t, but _someone_ here has,” the other NPP said cheekily as he stood up. “I’m gonna see if he’s up yet. Be right back!”

The pink-haired girl merely smiled as her partner headed out, shaking her head before she began to shut the cruiser down.

 

As Rallen approached the door, he made sure to knock on the door _before_ walking into the room. Rex could be very grouchy if you just stormed into the room without any kind of warning, after all. Once he had, he opened the door and stepped inside with a loud: “Good morning!”

However, Rallen wasn’t prepared to see Rex sitting up on the bed, one leg pulled close to his chest, one arm resting along the knee, his handheld journal held in the hand of that arm while he leaned back on his other arm at the same time, with his chin resting in his throat, effectively hiding his eyes from view. Komainu was seated next to him looking up curiously at Rex, until he noticed Rallen and proceeded to dash over with a happy yip.

Once the younger of the two men had picked up Komainu and gave him some light head pats, he quipped up: “Hey, Rex, c’mon, we’re here! Let’s go! We can probably surprise Grant if we move quick!”

“…Mom’s dead, isn’t she?”

“…!!” Rallen froze when Rex said those words, unable to open his mouth to either deny or confirm what Rex had just said. But apparently, Rex didn’t need words to have that done, as he released a heavy sigh that belied his true feelings.

“I see… so that’s what you wanted to tell me back on Meido, huh?”

“I… I’m… I’m sorry…” Rallen said softly, hanging his own head in shame. “I… I was going to tell you… but… I… I just…”

His words died in his throat when a hand suddenly landed in his hair, but he hadn’t heard Rex get up. And upon looking up, he realized why; it was Rex’s right hand that had been placed in his hair, and the limb hovered above him solemnly, lightly ruffling his hair in the same way Rex used to do when they were younger. As it did, Rex slowly got up from the bed, foregoing his boots for the moment, and walked over to his younger brother.

Once he was there, he positioned his right arm against the hovering limb, and the two easily clicked into place, while he pulled the younger NPP into a hug. Rallen blinked slowly, before he reached out with one arm to return the gesture, a bit worriedly, since he wasn’t too sure what to expect.

And Komainu merely snuggled closer to Rallen with a happy yowl.

“…I’m sorry… I should’ve come back a lot sooner…”

“I-it wasn’t your fault!” Rallen stammered out, caught off guard by the sudden apology. “It was… just… it was just…”

“Easy, Rall. We can talk about this later, but I needed to get that out of the way,” Rex said with a small smile as he stepped back and ruffled Rallen’s hair (a little more roughly than before). “So, shall we go?”

Rallen blinked in surprise at the sudden turnabout, before he allowed a grin as Rex walked back to pull on his boots again. “Yeah, sure. C’mon! The Commanders are waiting!”

“…? ‘Commanders’? Who else is waiting besides Grant?”

“Lizzy is! Who else?”

“…Lizzy’s a Commander?! Since when?!”

“Um… about 11 years ago, I think.”

“…hoo boy… that’s gonna be interesting… I just _know_ it…”

 

NPPHQ was, in one word, busy when the small group stepped out of the cruiser. The techs were running from one corner of the room to the next to either pick up tools, help their friend, or to move to one of the other cruisers that needed a checkup. The NPP officers themselves were not so busy and seemed to be taking it easy as they left their cruisers in the care of the techs, heading out of the hangar to get something to eat or to enjoy themselves in another fashion.

As they continued on through the hangar, there were several people who stopped to watch in surprise when they spotted Rex, and the man in question merely tossed them a brief wave and smirk, before moving on. He didn’t even seem bothered by the whispering that was going on behind his back. In fact, he seemed to take great pleasure from it.

“Heh. You’re hardly back for a minute and already everyone’s gonna be talking about you,” Rallen joked out.

“If they actually recognize me right away. I _did_ change a bit, after all,” the older man said back.

“‘A bit’?”

“…Okay, ‘a lot’.”

Jeena smiled as the two men exchanged a quick grin and chuckle, never slowing their pace in the least. They barely seemed to care about the shift in atmosphere the moment they stepped out of the cruiser, which really shouldn’t have surprised her as much as it did.

 

The trip from the hangar to the Commanders’ office took them only a few minutes, though they did have to stop a few times to greet a few people, though Rex didn’t appear too fond of doing so, which was a surprise for Jeena.

Despite their small breaks, however, they made good time in getting to Grant’s office. Jeena was the one to knock on the door, which was answered by a slightly muffled “Enter,” from Grant.

Once they were in the room, Grant spent a few more moments studying the reports before him, before he turned to the small group.

“So, are you ready to–” Grant began, only to choke on his own words when he realized that Rallen and Jeena weren’t the only ones to enter. “What in–?!”

“Yo, Commander Grant,” Rex chuckled out as he gave the man a two-fingered salute. “Been a while, eh?”

Grant stood up so fast just then that he almost knocked his chair over, though it did screech briefly as it was pushed back because of the sudden motion. “Rex!? You… you’re alive?!”

“Alive and kicking, as you can see,” the man in question said with a cheeky smirk on his face. “Sorry for the delay; I got unexpectedly held up a few systems over.”

“Unexpected…” Grant began, before he frowned, though he appeared to be fighting off a smirk. “Of course you’d be ‘unexpectedly’ delayed. Whenever do you really _expect_ to be delayed?”

Rex merely laughed, while Rallen and Jeena hid their amusement behind their hands, even as Rex rubbed the back of his head. “Ya got me there, I suppose,” he said casually. “So anyway, I hear things were getting a little hectic around here the past two years… guess I missed all the action, huh?”

At those words, even Grant allowed a short chuckle. “Heh. That’s one way to put it. Though I doubt you had a complete lack of action wherever it was you disappeared to.”

“No comment on that one,” Rex said with a grin and a shrug. “Yanno how it goes; hard to keep my nose outta things.”

Grant finally allowed a small smile as he briefly shook his head. “So… _this_ is what you two were up to, I take it…” he said finally as he turned to Rallen and Jeena.

“Hehe… yeah, kinda,” Rallen said with a grin of his own. “Sorry ‘bout the secrecy, but we wanted it to be a surprise.”

“Heh. Well, you’ve succeeded quite well with that,” Grant commended with a nod, before he asked: “Does Commander Marks already know, though?”

Rallen, who was standing beside Rex, heard his brother say under his breath: “So she _is_ a Commander now… hoo-boy…” which he ignored for now so he could respond to Grant.

“Not yet. We were planning to see her right after giving you the news,” Rallen said with a small half-grin. “Figured the reunion with you would be the shortest.”

“Hm. No argument there. Though perhaps you _should_ go see her soon,” Grant said, allowing himself a smirk. “Wouldn’t want her to build up even more anger, now do we?”

“No we don’t…” Rallen and Rex said at the exact same time.

“Heh. Alright then, you’re dismissed.”

 

The walk to Liz’s office was relatively short, but it seemed to take much longer than usual for some reason. Maybe it was because of the tension in the air around them, but whatever the reason, when they finally reached the door to her office, it was mid-afternoon

When they almost stood in front of it, Rex paused in his steps.

“Rex? You okay?” Jeena asked worriedly.

“…Y… yeah… I’m… I’m fine… really…” Rex murmured, absently tucking his hand in his pocket. “I’m just… a tad bit nervous, I suppose…”

“Don’t blame ya…” Rallen mumbled. “Lizzy’s prolly gonna bash your head in for being away so long…”

“Among other things…” Rex mumbled under his breath. After a moment of just standing there, Rex finally took a deep breath and exhaled quietly, before he clucked his tongue. “A’ight… this ain’t gonna be pretty one way or another… may as well get it over with now and pray my head survives…”

Rallen had to resist the urge to chuckle; this was not the situation to do so, after all. So instead, he stepped up to the door and raised his hand to knock…

Just as the door opened on its own.

This resulted in Rallen jumping back with a startled yelp, even as Liz, who now stood in the doorway, to blink curiously at them. Rex immediately took notice of the large triangular eye patch that covered almost half of her face and tensed, but he kept quiet (for now).

“…You certainly took your time,” Liz said finally, her expression and voice perfectly neutral and not giving anything away about how she was feeling. “I was about to see what kept you.”

“Ehehe… sorry, Ma’am,” Rallen chuckled as he rubbed the back of his head. “We got a little sidetracked along the way since there were a few people who wanted to say ‘hi’.”

“Is that so?” Liz murmured thoughtfully, though as she did, Jeena realized that the Commander was purposely not looking to Rex for some reason. As though he wasn’t even there.

And Rex only stood there, watching silently for the longest time, until Liz _finally_ turned her attention to him. And like that, they stood in silence for several tense seconds, to the point where even Rallen’s grin faded as worry began to gnaw at his heart. He shared a look with Jeena, but the girl in question looked equally, if not more worried than Rallen felt.

Finally, though…

“…You’re late, Rex,” Liz stated coldly, and—strangely enough—Rex only laughed.

“Yeah, yeah, I know. Esh, I only just got back and already you’re chewing me out,” he chuckled as he rubbed the back of his neck with a small headshake. “You never change, huh?”

“Nor do you, unfortunately,” the Commander said coolly.

“Nope. You mind?”

“…” To that question, Liz didn’t respond immediately, but after a few minutes, she shut her eye and allowed a small smirk. “Not in the slightest.”

“Great. Now I don’t have to go out of my way to do stuff I don’t feel up to,” Rex said with a small half-grin.

“…Heh. You’re still such a goof.”

“And proud of it. Heheh.”

Rallen blinked a few times, before he managed to smile and turn to his own partner. The girl in question was also smiling, most likely also seeing just how similar Rex and Liz were acting to themselves.

“Rallen, Jeena,” Liz spoke suddenly, turning to the pair in question. “I need to speak to Rex in private for a while. Do you mind?”

“Huh? …Oh! No, of course not!” Rallen responded almost immediately, needing a lot of effort to keep the grin of his face. “Take as long as you need. We don’t mind a bit. Right, Jeen?”

Jeena allowed a half-smile of her own and nodded. “Not at all.”

Liz allowed a small chuckle, shaking her head before she walked back into her office. Rex shook his head with a small chuckle of his own, and made to follow, only to stop in the doorway to turn to his brother.

“Hey, Rall.”

“Hm? Yeah?”

Rex waited for a moment, before he smirked and quipped: “Don’t pull any weird stuff now, ya hear?”

“Wha--I--why--REX!!” Rallen spluttered out, even as Rex laughed and stepped into Commander’s office, the door closing behind him.

 

Rex took a deep breath, briefly biting his lip as the door shut, before he released it and turned to face Liz—

“YOU DOLT!!”

—and immediately got a right hook to the jaw.

“OW!!” Rex yowled out, covering the sore area with his hand. “Okay okay I know I deserved that but seriously, was it necessary to punch _that_ hard?!”

“YES THAT WAS NECESSARY, YOU STUPID OAF!!” Liz screamed out. “You kept us waiting for 12 years!! _Twelve years_ , Rex!! Do you have ANY idea at all what we were going through here with you gone?!”

“Hey whoa whoa! Easy, Liz!” Rex called out quickly holding up his hands in surrender. “C’mon, girl… calm down before you pop a blood vessel or something… YIKE!” Rex quickly ducked to avoid the straight punch that would’ve crushed his nose for sure.

“Calm down?! You expect me to ‘calm down’ after all this?!” Liz demanded, clenching her fist in preparation for her next punch. “I should just--”

However, before Liz could finish (or throw the punch), Rex quickly darted forward, snagged both her wrists in his hands to keep them by her side and caught the young woman’s mouth with his own, stopping her tirade before it could escalate any further. It was only a light touch of his lips to hers and nothing else, since she’d kill him if he did anything else, he knew. He also knew that the light grip he had on her wrists would not hold her for long, and if she really wanted to, she could break his hands with a mere flick of the wrist, but he prayed that she wouldn’t. He also made sure not to move at all, both with his body and with his mouth, waiting for Liz to either reject or accept him.

After what felt like a short eternity to Rex, Liz’s stance relaxed and a weak, sort of strangled sound rolled out from her throat, which Rex took as a sign that she had calmed down at least a little. So, gradually, he moved back, maintaining his light grip on her wrists for a moment, but easing up bit by bit.

Wordlessly, he then stared into Liz’s only visible eye, which was still angled down in a frown, but he could see the one thing he had never expected from the young woman in it as well. The one thing he had never, _ever_ , seen with her… and also something he, quite honestly _never_ wanted to see;

Tears…

“I’m sorry…” he whispered tenderly, resting his forehead against hers. “I caused you, Rallen, and Mom so much pain… I never intended for that to happen, and I’m sorry…” He paused briefly to let his left hand slip down and interlock their fingers, giving her hand a soft squeeze. “I mean it… from the bottom of my heart… I’m sorry… and I know it’s… probably too much to ask, but… will you forgive me?”

Liz remained deathly silent, staring up at Rex and never once looking away. As he finished his whispered plea, however, she cast her gaze down.

“…you… dolt…” she snarled softly, but Rex caught the hitch in her voice, and it tore at his heart when he saw the first crystalline tear roll down her cheek. “…in situations like this… sorry doesn’t cut it…”

Rex allowed a small smile, as her fingers dug into his skin, almost as if to say “don’t let go”. “I know… but… it’s all I can do… so… I’ll say it again as much as I must… I’m sorry… I’m so… _so_ sorry…”

Liz didn’t look up at him, but she was not pushing him away, so he took a chance and brought up his other hand to rest it on her back, gently pulling her closer so that he could place her chin on his shoulder.

“…just this once…” Liz hissed out, bringing up her own free arm and gripping the back of his shirt tightly. “…you dolt…”

“Heh… yeah, but I’m _your_ dolt, huh?”

“…heh… you goof…”

Rex merely smiled quietly to himself as he held her close. He wanted so badly to keep her there and never let go again, but she’d probably kill him for it. Let alone there was something else he still needed to do, as well. But, before he could say anything, Liz’s fingers reached out for the right side of his face and he instinctively flinched when they passed over his scar.

“What caused this?” Liz asked, a deep frown on her face as she moved his bangs aside.

“Just an old accident… nothing major, really…” Rex murmured softly as her fingers moved across the scar and then over his eyelid as it closed instinctively.

“…it must’ve hurt…” she whispered, as if to herself, and Rex couldn’t help but look at the eye patch that hid her own eye.

“…what about you?” he asked quietly, reaching up and carefully fingering the piece of cloth. “You… did yours hurt, too?”

“…it’s just an old injury… it’s nothing special…” she said softly, making no move to stop him as he carefully eased the patch off.

As ugly as his own scar was, the sight that greeted him beneath the eye patch was both horrifying and saddening. The skin was a deep red, its surface not only looked, but also felt rough, like sandpaper, the eyebrow had been entirely scorched off, and the skin of the eyelid had seemingly melted, permanently forcing the eye shut. When he touched the skin, even lightly with the very tips of his fingers, she winced sharply and almost instinctively pulled away.

“Shit… Liz… I’m sorry…” he murmured, carefully and tenderly resting his hand on her cheek, not missing how she tried desperately to hide her wince. “I… I can’t even… can’t even imagine what that must’ve been like… I’m so sorry…”

“…It’s not your fault…” she whispered, lightly holding his hand in her own, despite how it had to hurt like hell. “Stop apologizing for things you couldn’t prevent…”

“But I _could’ve_ prevented it! That’s the point! I… I could’ve--”

“Rex, enough already,” she sighed out, lightly squeezing his hand. “It’s already done… nothing to do about it now. Stop beating yourself up over it.”

“Liz…” Rex bit his lip, debating on what to say, before he settled on placing a feather-light kiss on the burnt skin. “I can’t help it… that’s how I am… I care about you, and that’s why I worry about you… You’re more to me than just my partner in NPP… you’re my friend… more than that even…”

“Rex…”

Whatever she was going to say, he didn’t hear it, as he gave her another soft kiss. Unlike the first one he gave her, she actually responded to this one, if only slightly. Again, it went no further than simple mouth-to-mouth, and that was fine, really. The fact that she was even responding was more than enough for him right then.

Once he had managed to collect his nerve, he slowly pulled away and breathed out what he had been dying to say to her for the past 12 years…

“Liz… I love you.”

The Commander stared at Rex in something that could almost, _almost_ , be shock, but then she allowed a small smile. “Goof…” she mumbled, before she linked her hands behind his head and pulled his face to hers. “Took you long enough…”

And with that, she kissed him, _hard_.

And Rex only smiled quietly, letting her take charge for once; lord knows what she’d do if he tried to force control on her. He placed his hands on her hips, letting them rest there, letting her decide how far this would go. When she pushed her tongue against his lips, he parted his lips and allowed her to dominate him, only occasionally pushing back with his own tongue.

After almost five minutes, they finally parted. For a few moments, they stared at each other, before Rex spoke up.

“Soooo… does this mean you’re not angry with me anymore?”

“…Dolt,” Liz mumbled softly, but her mouth curled up in a small half smirk as she rested her head on his shoulder.

“Heh. I’ll take that as a ‘yes’, then.”

Liz didn’t even bother to respond that time (though she did snort), which was fine, since it gave him some time to prepare himself mentally.

‘Okay… just calm down… you had 12 years to prepare so get on with it!’

“…Hey… Alliz?”

The second he said that, Liz’s only eye widened in surprise and she pulled back to look at him strangely. “You _never_ use that name… What’s wrong?”

“N-nothing…!” Rex got out, and he mentally smacked himself for stammering. Breathing out slowly, he rubbed the back of his neck. “I just… well… I was just wondering… if you’d… consider… um… well…”

“Rex, are you sure you’re--”

“I’m fine! I just… um…”

Rex almost wanted to rip his hair out in frustration. He’d had twelve years to prepare, and here he was, screwing up. Go figure…

After taking another deep breath and letting it out in a heavy sigh, he reached into his pocket, scraping together all scattered bits of his courage as he pulled it out. ‘Now or never… c’mon, **_do it!_** ’

“Alliz Marks,” he said finally, not waiting for her to gather her wits and getting down on one knee as he brought out the small box, “would you grant me the honor of staying by my side forever as my wife?”

“…!! R-Rex…” That was all she got out as she stared down at the small box he held out to her. Or more precisely, at its contents.

Inside the box rested a silver ring with a light purple stone surrounded by smaller stones of deep ocean blue and pale yellow the color of sand set in an infinity symbol around the purple stone. The combination of colors reminded her of nightfall on Nessa, when the skies would turn purple after the sun’s departure and the sand and water seemed to glow with an ethereal light. A sight she had always adored more than anything in her childhood.

For the longest time, Liz could only stare, and it was almost as if she wasn’t breathing. She tried to work her jaw to speak, but her voice appeared to have abandoned her. After all, out of all the things Rex could have told her upon his return to Kollin after so long, this was most likely not what she had expected him to say.

“I know that this might seem… a little sudden,” Rex said finally, looking down to the ground briefly, before he turned back to Liz, gently taking her right hand in his own. “But I mean what I say. I love you, Liz, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you, and not just as your partner. I understand that I might be far too late to ask you… but…”

“…you dolt,” Liz said quietly just then, and when he looked at her face, he saw she was close to crying, and yet she was smiling – _actually smiling_. “You… you’re always late with… with such things.”

Rex blinked, a little confused before he realized that Liz was squeezing his hand lightly. “Liz…? Y-you mean…?”

Rather than answer verbally, however, Liz merely reached into the box and looped her left ring finger through it. Even with her glove on, it was a perfect fit.

 “Seriously… you need to work on your timing, Rex,” she said with a small smile still playing on her lips. “Don’t you know it’s impolite to keep a girl waiting?”

Rex remained where he sat for a while longer, just staring as Liz studied the ring on her own finger, before his mouth twisted up into a grin as he jumped up and – without thinking twice about it – hugged the Commander tightly, startling Liz enough for her to yelp slightly. Her surprise didn’t last for long, however, as she soon chuckled softly and wrapped her arms around him in turn.

“I’m sorry I’m late, Lizzy…” he whispered to her. “I’m _so_ sorry… I swear I’ll find some way to make up for how long I’ve been away. I swear I’ll–”

“Rex.”

“Yeah?”

“Shut up and kiss me, you dolt.”

Rex blinked in surprise, but then he laughed and did as he was ordered.

“I love you, Liz…” he breathed when they parted briefly for air.

“Dolt…” Liz murmured as she linked her hands behind his neck. “I love you, too…”

 

In the meantime, Rallen and Jeena stood, leaning against the wall, waiting for either Rex or Liz to come back out. The two were taking their time, and they had already been expecting that, but this was getting to be a little ridiculous.

Rallen yawned and stretched his arms over his head. “Esh… are they ever coming out? Seriously…”

“They have a lot to catch up on, Rallen. I mean, they’ve been apart for 12 years, right?” Jeena pointed out.

“Yeah, yeah, I know… but still…” the orange-haired man mumbled to himself, hands behind his head as he leaned back, crossing his legs over one another. “…Can’t he just say it and get it over with?” he murmured softly after a while.

“Hm? You say something, Rallen?”

“…Nah.”

For a long time, the pair remained where they were, silently contemplating even as Komainu plopped down beside Rallen’s feet to nap… up until a familiar beep startled them both.

Rallen blinked in surprise, before he reached under his gauntlet and pulled out his handheld, flipping it open with one hand. As he read the message he had just been sent, he hummed a little non-committedly to himself, before he snorted. “Oh, _now_ he’s telling us to find something for ourselves to do. Figures… eh?”

Just then, Rallen blinked and squinted at the last section – and then he promptly started laughing.

“…? What’s so funny, Rallen?” Jeena asked with a frown.

Instead of an answer, however, Rallen held out the handheld to her, trying very hard to stifle his laughter with his free hand. Confused, Jeena took it from him and read through the message quietly. It wasn’t until the end of the message that she realized what had to have set Rallen off.

It was a small PS, really, but it succeeded in getting the point across, and Jeena actually felt her face heating up a bit.

“He… did… did he…?”

“Hah… hahah… y-yeah… hahah… H-he was planning that from the get-go since 12 years ago already! Hahaha!”

“R-Rallen! I-it’s not _that_ funny!”

“I know I know! Hahaha! S-sorry, but I… hahah…” Rallen managed to take a few deep breaths so that he could calm down, though he was still chuckling. “Heh… I just… remembered something funny.”

“Uh-huh…” Jeena mumbled, having a feeling that Rallen knew more than he was letting on.

“Anyway! Since those two are going to be busy for a while, let’s go out and eat something, shall we?”

“Huh? Where did—hey! Rallen! Wait up!” Jeena called out, quickly running after her partner as he hurried off.

“C’mon Jeen! It’ll be like Rex’s treat to celebrate!”

“Seriously!”

As angry as she sounded, however, she couldn’t help but giggle slightly when she realized that Rallen was just excited about the news they had just gotten, and she really couldn’t blame him for it. So instead, she just hurried along after her partner.

It wasn’t every day you learned your brother was getting married, after all, so maybe a _small_ celebration was in order.

 

As the trio left NPPHQ behind, they never noticed that their trek was followed quietly.

“Aaand there they go,” Rex chuckled out from where he was sitting on the windowsill.

Liz only shook her head with a small half-hearted sigh before she turned to face him from her seat. “Are you going to grab a chair anytime soon or are you gonna keep spying on your little brother?”

“…Little, huh?” Rex murmured thoughtfully as he watched Rallen pause with a laugh to let Jeena catch up. “…Not so little anymore, is he?”

The last time that Rex had seen his brother before his “disappearance”, the kid had only just gotten to just below knee height, since Rex himself had kept growing taller until he was 28, though much slower than Rallen. And now Rallen almost easily reached his shoulders, and it only made Rex more aware of just how much he had truly missed.

“…It wasn’t your fault, dolt,” Liz said after a while as she turned back to her work, startling the orange-haired man. “Quit thinking it is, already.”

“…Can’t help it…” Rex sighed out. “I’ve missed so much… I wish I could’ve been there for Rall… for you… for mom…”

“…” Liz sighed and stood up, walking over, before she abruptly socked him to the back of his head.

“Ow!! Hey, watch it!”

“Quit your moping, then. It’s not like you.”

Rex looked at her dryly for a moment, before he rolled his eyes and looked outside again, in time to see Rallen catch Jeena when she almost fell over. “…Esh, that’s it!” he growled suddenly, pulling out his handheld and rapidly typed in something.

Liz blinked curiously, looking over his shoulder to see what he wrote… and couldn’t help hut chuckle as he sent it.

“ _Are you gonna man up and kiss her already or do I have to get down there and make you?!_”

“Really now, Rex, since when have you dropped to match-making?” Liz asked casually as they watched Rallen reach for his own handheld.

“Liz, I almost wasted _my_ chance, and I’m not about to let my brother make the same mistakes I made,” Rex said solemnly, though he almost laughed when he saw Rallen tensing, and then hiding his handheld when Jeena tried to see what message he got. “For both their sakes.”

“…Heh. That is _so_ you; always putting others’ feelings and safety above your own.”

Rex smirked as he looked back to Liz. “Problem?”

“Hmm… no,” she said finally, and then she moved forward and kissed him briefly.

The orange-haired man smiled with a small chuckle, before he stood up. “So anyway! How ‘bout we go get something to eat for ourselves and turn some heads, eh?”

“…Dolt,” Liz murmured with a small smile of her own. “Even if I say ‘no’, you’ll just drag me along, anyway.”

“Glad to know you still know how I work! Let’s mosey!” Red laughed, taking Liz’s hand and beginning to tug her along. And the Commander only chuckled as she kept up easily.

“Oh! Hey Lizzy?”

“Don’t call me that. And what?”

“Happy belated birthday.”

“…Dolt.”

“Heheh.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, Liz's actual name is "Alliz Marks".


End file.
